Peyton Manning Proves Again that He’s a Class Act
Peyton Manning is a class act, one of the good guys in the NFL. Everyone in Denver already knows it, but he’s out proving it once again. This time, he’s doing it back in Tennessee, where he played his college ball.
Manning recently started up the Chattanooga Heroes Fund. After the tragic shooting there a week ago, the fund is designed to give aid to the families of those who were killed or injured. Manning then went beyond just creating the fund and spreading the word, and he threw in some of his own money to get things started.
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This is the same guy who took a $4M pay cut this season so the team could stay competitive.
Yes, Manning has so much money that he doesn’t need any more, but this still illustrates his mindset. He doesn’t care about the money. He cares about bigger things—the team, the community, or communities halfway across the country that are going through an incredibly difficult time.
He’s a class act, the type of player parents want their children to look up to. People are fond of saying that football players didn’t sign up to be role models and they shouldn’t be held to those standards, but Manning knows exactly what he is. He embraces it. He uses it to be a positive role model in every way that he can.
It’s more than football, for him.
The goal of the fund is even centered around a big-picture worldview. It’s not aimed at short-term support as much as continuing support in the years to come.
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When things like this happen, people come together. There is a ton of local support in the days, weeks and even months after a tragedy. But it fades over time. People don’t think of it as often if they weren’t directly impacted by it. It’s not that they forget, per se, but the importance declines, and so does the support.
But the reality doesn’t change. The families still face very real challenges, and Manning knows it. That’s why he set the fund up, so that he could still do something good for the families when they needed it most, even if that’s a few years from now.
The Denver Broncos are lucky to have a quarterback like Peyton Manning, and not just because of what he does on the field. Not just because of all of those yards, touchdowns and wins. They’re lucky to have him because of the way he carries himself; he’s what all athletes should aspire to be.